In Sweden and Norway there are library ships that carry books to the islands that are difficult to reach: active since the 50s, they risk closing
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves himIn Sweden and Norway exist library ships who deliver books to remote areas between the Novergese fjords and the Stottolma archipelago. They are called The book boat and it's about traveling libraries that spread culture and love for literature in over 200 micro communities that are difficult to reach in any other way.
Unfortunately the future of these libraries is uncertain and risk closing.
The library ships in Sweden and Norway
In Sweden it is called Bokbåten Norrtälje, in Norway Bokbåten Epos: they are itinerant libraries built inside ships, which bring books on loan to the citizens of 250 micro communities distributed between the fjords of the Stockholm archipelago and the Norwegian ones.
Le floating libraries both have been active since the 50s and offer a very useful service lending books in remote and inaccessible places, the only way to use the public reading service.
In Sweden, a country where the rate of books read is among the highest in the world, the traveling library stops on each island twice a year for a week.
Inside the boats the atmosphere is unique: thousands of books stacked between high wooden shelves, large tables, trolleys and suitcases.
In addition to offering in book lending of all kinds, on library ships it is also possible participate in events, workshops, readings and initiatives dedicated to children, thus favoring social interaction and public relations as well as the dissemination of culture.
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Posted by The Floating House of Literature Epos on Thursday, February 1, 2018
Unfortunately the future of these ship-based libraries is at stake, since the initiative obviously has costs and the funds allocated for this type of projects are less and less.
If the administrations were to stop financing library ships, bokbåten will close as it did in Finland, where it was preferred to invest in building a library on the mainland rather than continuing to support a traveling library active for thirty years.
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Tatiana Maselli
Photo credit Bokbaten Epos
